TEHRAN -- Three Zionist-run newspapers in the United States are known to be used by the CIA, the Pentagon and the U.S. State Department to release false reports. **The Washington Times**, **The Washington Post***, and **The New York Times** every now and then publish articles quoting certain diplomatic or security sources, who never want to be identified, and later these articles provide fodder for international news agencies such as Reuters and AFP.

A perfect example of this was seen in Saturday's edition of ***The New York Times**, which falsely reported that Iran has purchased Stinger missiles from an unidentified Afghan source and plans to give them to the Islamic Jihad Organization. However, it said it could not confirm whether Iran had succeeded in transferring the weapons, nor did it reveal its source.

As usual, AFP has undertaken the task of spreading the false report and by giving it special prominence, it has been trying to portray Iran as a sponsor of terrorism.

This is not the first time that fabricated news about Stinger missiles has been published. The missiles were provided by Washington to Afghan fighters in the 1980s during their struggle against former Soviet forces. Now, some 20 years later, one has to ask how many more times the same old story will be used as propaganda against those nations that are speaking out against U.S. hegemonic policies.

Even two months ago during the U.S. offensive in Afghanistan, the Western media reported that the Al-Qaeda network had received Stinger missiles from former Afghan prime minister Gulbuddin Hekmatyar in order to use them against U.S. planes. However, the question arises that if such missiles existed in Afghanistan, why were they not used against the U.S. planes even once?!

Although Stinger missiles might not have lost their military effectiveness after two decades, it is clear that they have lost their potency as a means of political propaganda against the Islamic Republic!

These U.S. publishers of fiction and their Zionist masters should try and come up with another plot for their stories, because apparently these printed Stinger missiles are worn out and can no longer be launched!